1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garments or clothing articles for dressing a deceased person for presentation at a funeral or burial service, a wake, or viewing of the corpse prior to burial, interment, cremation, or other final disposition of the body. The invention in one implementation relates to a funereal garment that is adapted to be worn by a decedent whose body at the time of death lacks significant tissue in relation to normal body conformation, such as may have resulted from a wasting illness or traumatic injury.
2. Description of the State of the Art
In contemporary society, many social practices and religions involve ceremonies following the death of an individual, in which the body of the decedent is presented during such ceremonies, and/or before and/or after they take place. For example, such traditions may include display of a body of the deceased for a period of time accommodating viewing by friends, family members and others who wish to pay respects or provide solace to survivors of the decedent. Some traditions involve a watch or vigil that is held over the body of the deceased prior to burial or cremation.
In many instances, the appearance of the body of the deceased has become substantially deteriorated in the period preceding death, as a result of disease, accident, or physiological decline involving loss of tissue, wasting, emaciation or other condition in which the body mass is significantly lessened, in relation to a prior full and healthy appearance of such individual. Under these circumstances, undertakers, embalmers and funeral directors generally strive to prepare the corpse so that such prior full and healthy appearance of the body is simulated. These efforts are rendered disproportionately more difficult when the loss of body mass is substantial in amount. If not able to be restored to a full and healthy appearance, the corpse of the decedent in an eviscerated condition may occasion shock and additional grief to mourners viewing the body, particularly those whose last memories and visual recollection of the decedent involved such a full and healthy appearance.